Uri Avnery says by spiting President Obama in Congress Netanyahu may succeed in outflanking his opponents in Israel’s coming elections, but the price could be Israel’s lifeline – the alliance with Washington.

Nureddin Sabir examines Qatar’s policy of reliance on the USA and support for Islamism, and its media strategy, as represented by Aljazeera, which talks democracy to Westerners but espouses Islamism to Arabs.

Lawrence Davidson assesses the potential and problems of the Palestinian request to the International Criminal Court to begin a preliminary investigation of Israel’s actions during the 2014 invasion of the Gaza Strip.